Kerala Swine Fever: 154 pigs were culled at the farm by the Rapid Response Team. (Representational)
Culling of pigs in two private farms in Kanichar panchayat of Kannur district to prevent spread of African swine fever, which was recently reported, was completed today.
The culling operations had to be put on hold on Wednesday due to stiff opposition from the owner of one of the affected farms.
On Thursday, the Deputy Collector intervened and convinced the farmer to cooperate with the process, a district official told Press Trust of India.
Subsequently, 154 pigs were culled at the farm by the Rapid Response Team led by its chairman and District Animal Welfare Officer Dr. SJ Lekha, a statement issued by the district administration said.
Over 90 pigs were slaughtered on the first day - August 2 - of the culling operation in the farm which was the epicentre of the infection, the statement said.
Pig farms within a 10-km radius of the epicentre are being monitored, it said.
Barely a week after over 300 pigs were culled in Wayanad district to prevent the spread of African swine fever detected there, new cases of the disease were reported from there as well as from Kannur earlier this week.
Culling operations were also commenced in the recently affected Wayanad farms on August 2 and by August 3 they had completed the work by killing and burying 233 pigs, an official statement had said.
Kerala had in July tightened biosecurity measures following an alert from the Centre that African swine fever had been reported in Bihar and a few northeastern States.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), African swine fever is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease of domestic pigs.
It was first detected in Kenya, East Africa, in 1921 as a disease that killed settlers' pigs. Contact with warthogs was proven to be an important factor in transmission of the virus.
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